Violations and Accusations

On Saturday, February 2, 2019, on order of the President, the United States ceased observation of a 31-year-old treaty with Russia, and will withdraw completely from the treaty in six months if Russia does not take corrective actions and come into compliance within that time. According to the United States, Russia has been violating the treaty for several years by producing a new missile system that would fit into the realm of those banned by the pact. Russia denies they are in violation of the treaty – an assertion not supported by NATO.

NATO says that if Moscow fails to destroy all new missile systems that Washington insists violate the treaty, “Russia will bear sole responsibility for the end of the treaty.”

U.S. officials also expressed concern that China, which isn’t part of the treaty, is deploying large numbers of missiles in Asia that the U.S. can’t counter with a military solution because it’s bound by the INF Treaty.

Arms control advocates and Congressional Democrats have criticized the Administration’s decision to back out of the treaty, claiming the action will start a new, Cold War style arms race.

A separate report by the Associated Press indicates that the state of Nevada is suing the Federal Government because of the Department of Energy secretly moving a half a metric ton of weapons-grade plutonium from a storage facility in South Carolina to a facility outside of Carson City, Nevada. Officials in Nevada contend that the move was unauthorized and puts its residents at risk of a nuclear accident. The Justice Department countered, saying the shipment was complete and no more are planned, so what’s the big deal, basically.

Perhaps the movement of weapons grade plutonium to the general area where the U.S. Military traditionally has built and tested nuclear weapons is a complete coincidence and in no way related to the U.S. withdrawal from a treaty banning creation and deployment of a certain class of nuclear weapons. Perhaps it is, just a coincidence?

Let’s look again at the state of affairs between the United States and Russian (not to mention China and North Korea) … according to a report by the Associated Press:

Russia accuses the United States of unilaterally seeking to neuter the [INF] treaty and of resisting Russian attempts to resolve the dispute.

The head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of Russia’s parliament says the U.S. “has taken another step toward its destruction today.”

What exactly is happening, really?

What was the Cold War?

The 1980’s movie War Games starring Matthew Broderick painted a picture of certain global destruction should missiles be launched in either direction. There is no way to win this game

Most of you over 35 probably remember it. The constant notion that we could or even might be attacked by Russia at any minute, with limited time to react; the idea of nuclear annihilation, cemented by everything from movies like War Games to school drills to kiss your tail goodbye while sitting under your desk (if you are a bit older); the tension in the air every time a Soviet leader was on our national news. But what was it, really?

Cold War: the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons. The term was first used by the English writer George Orwell in an article published in 1945 to refer to what he predicted would be a nuclear stalemate between “two or three monstrous super-states, each possessed of a weapon by which millions of people can be wiped out in a few seconds.” – Britannica.com

Orwell, the author of the dystopian classic Nineteen Eighty-four, it seems called it fairly precisely. From 1947 – 1991 the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. each sat on a stockpile of active and waiting I.C.B.M. (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles) capable of wiping out the entirety of the other country. The threat of being destroyed being a major deterrent – as either side would be capable of seeing the onslaught coming and firing their own missiles – neither side ever attacked. Thus, the action was “cold” during standoff.

The stalemate, however, didn’t prevent both sides from amassing enough nuclear weapons to utterly destroy the entire planet. Eventually, in the 1980’s, leaders began to reach agreements that put at least some brakes, if not a full stop, to the nuclear stockpiling.

–You can learn more about the origins and causes of the Cold War here.

What is the INF Treaty?

On December 8, 1987, a document known as the INF Treaty became a central component of global peace as the United States and the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, i.e. Russia and its associated States, for those of you under 25) took a major step toward putting an end to the Cold War by signing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The arms pact between the two major world powers effectively banned the production, deployment, and use of ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets in a radius from 300 to 3,400 miles.

Siberia (Russia’s eatern most land tract) to the United States is not as far as you might think.

What is 3,400 miles from Siberia? The northwestern U.S. is within that range, not to mention all of Alaska. These types of missiles being fair use again as the treaty becomes void means that Russia would once again be capable of launching missiles into Europe, the Middle East, China, Canada, and even parts of the United States.

The treaty itself is quite long and specific, with details on weapons systems types that are specifically banned. If you would like to read the miles of pages that is this document click here to read it on the State Department website.

The Senate Returns to Foreign Policy

As tensions escalate globally, the Republican lead Senate is now taking back some of their power in foreign affairs. (Associated Press)

“I think the Congress recognizes when it comes to construction and implementation of foreign policy, the Founding Fathers gave both the legislative branch and the executive branch a role,” [GOP Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho] said. “And it isn’t really clearly defined as to who’s got the upper hand.”

This push back into the creation of foreign policy is being led largely by senators put off by President Trump’s tendencies in the realm, and many of them are Republicans. While Senator Rand Paul (R – Kentucky) sings the praises of the President for pulling us out of wars in Syria and Afghanistan, others such as Marco Rubio (R – Florida), Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R – Kentucky), and Rick Scott (R – Florida) disagree with many of the President’s ideas in foreign affairs, such as his known disdain for NATO and his assertion that the Islamic State has been defeated.

NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an international alliance that consists of 29 countries from North America and Europe. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949. NATO being the primary adhesive that holds the INF Treaty together, and each side accountable, what could happen if President Trump withdraws U.S. support from NATO? Might he, given the current situation? Perhaps we will learn more on this topic Tuesday night when the President delivers the much anticipated State of the Union Address.

Where does all of this leave us?

I will take a macro look at where the dominoes may fall in an upcoming report, where I will also discuss why Bibb County may just be a great place to ride out the possibly pending apocalypse, and what you may want to do to prepare…just in case.

 

Sources for this article:

Associated Press: The Latest: Trump pulls the plug on arms treaty with Russia

U.S. Department of State: INF Treaty

Associated Press: US secretly shipped plutonium from South Carolina to Nevada

Associated Press: Senate reasserts foreign policy role, reshapes Trump agenda

Encyclopaedia Britannica: Cold War

VIAThe Associated Press
SOURCEThe Bibb Voice
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A father, creative professional, and an alumnus of Bibb County High School, Jeremy has found his way back to Centreville after many years away. He studied Finance and Economics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and almost a decade ago left the "normal" business world for audio and video production. A freelance writer, photographer, sound engineer, and film and video producer/director/editor, his work has appeared online for Southern Living, People, Health, Food & Wine, Sports Illustrated, Cooking Light, It's a Southern Thing, and This Is Alabama, as well as for independent musicians and filmmakers across Alabama.